Book wars

64 books, battling each other all summer long.  Every time we would tell the kids to come in for book wars they would drop everything and run to their rooms to grab pillows and blankets and pile all over the living room floor.  Then we would read two books and everyone would cast their vote as to which book should move on to the next bracket.

 Sometimes it was unanimous, other times there were debates over why one book should win over the other and people occasionally tried to sway others to change their votes.  A couple of books were easy to pass by, others made it really difficult to choose.  We read some really funny stories, some with beautiful illustrations and others with unforgettable characters.  Our family has always been huge readers, Deke and I read constantly to the kids but it was so neat to read every single book as a family.  We read every single book all together.  It was neat to watch how much the kids were involved with all the stories.  They all had their favorite books and characters that they were cheering on the entire time.  Towards the end about the last ten books we all were having a hard time letting books get eliminated.  Here were some of our favorites...                                                                        
                                                             Hudson- (Mustache Baby)

                                                                Avery-(E-mergency)

                                                                 Hunter- (Fiona's Luck)

                                                              Emma- (Creepy Carrots)

                                                     Other favorites were: Journey, Spoon, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore,  Exclamation Mark, Imagine a Night, Dragons Love Tacos etc. etc. etc.  When it came down to the final battle I never would've guessed that the winning book would be completely wordless.  The first time we ever read Journey, all six of us were squished together on the couch one night.  We explained to the kids that since there were no words that everyone needed to be very quiet, look at the pictures, and create the story in their minds.  It may sound cheesy but as we slowly flipped through the book it was sort of magical.  It was completely silent and the kids wide eyes poured over every page, you could see their wheels turning.  As we sat there together taking it all in it was a very warm, special moment and when the book had ended the kids were saying "Whoa that book was awesome!" "The pictures were so cool."  Honestly neither Deke or I thought it was the "best book of the summer" but it was the neatest experience we had reading a book together.  I think the memory of that moment stuck with all of us and the kids in the end all three of them voted this book the winner.  Whenever I read it now it will remind me of that night.

We were all bummed when it was over.  We decided to buy Journey and let each family member buy their own personal favorite book of the summer.  Everyone agreed that this has started a new summer tradition for our family.  One that I only imagine we will continue to love.